Promise
by rainbow.room
Summary: "You promised me you'd protect Mikan, and I trusted you because I knew that you loved her. So keep your promise. Keep your promise, Hyuuga, and wake up." / When Hotaru is forced to watch over an unconcious Natsume. Based loosely after Chapter 163. 2012.


I just felt that they needed more moments together.

Please feel free to review any thoughts and violent reactions.

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She couldn't even remember how long she stood there, gaping at his unconscious form. Everyone else peeked in from behind her. Mikan hadn't slept in days, dark rings circling her bloodshot eyes. Hotaru watched as fresh new tears dripped on to the bed sheets. Mikan spoke so softly that nobody else could hear what she was saying, but Hotaru had an idea.

"Someone get her out of here," Hotaru finally said, and everyone shifted nervously until Ruka made his way down the line. Ruka entered the room with her, reaching Mikan first. She didn't even turn back to check who it was, eyes trained on Natsume's pale face.

"Mikan-" Ruka started.

"I'm not leaving," she cut him off, her voice cracking under the pressure of her tears and the passion to remain with her fiancé. Hotaru's eyes narrowed. "I can't leave him. I want to be the first person he sees when he wakes up."

"Are you eternally stupid or what?" Hotaru spoke loudly, making Mikan finally turn her face away and towards her best friend. "You're falling on your feet and your eyes can barely stay open. Now go to sleep or I'll have to put you to sleep myself!"

It was said threateningly, with a baka gun in hand. But Mikan was silent for the first time, never asking why Hotaru was so mean. Instead she stood slowly.

"Okay," Mikan said, nodding and looking through Hotaru. Almost as this was all a dream, or a terrible nightmare. She spoke again, "But only if you stay with him."

Then she walked out. Ruka shifted on his feet, wanting to stay with his best friend and wondering whether follow Mikan's order. Hotaru raised a brow, settling the matter, and he made his way out the door. All the others soon followed as Mikan left the hallway. When they were all gone and the door safely closed, Hotaru made her way to Natsume's bed. She sank unto the chair with a sigh. With that, her heart sank as her eyes looked over his face. He was unnaturally pale under his tan, lifeless and so unlike the boy that had come to protect Mikan.

"Looks like you're stuck with me, Hyuuga," she began. Her hands reached to grab his, a foreign touch that held no warmth. But it seemed like the right thing to do at the current situation. She leaned back to stare into his face once more. "Why are you so chivalrous all the time? Did you really think she would leave you once you started to use your fire? Think a little more, will you. She never would have left you alone, she's stupid, that one.

"And now what? You're just going to give up on us? Give up on her? What a way to put your alice to use, baka. She's worn off on you. I have no idea what you were thinking, giving up your life like this just to protect everyone. What were you thinking to get but a burn? I can't believe you would do that. Now look at you! You can't even answer me back. You said you would protect her, you said you would love her until the end of time. And it's not yet your end, so why did you have to use your alice so much when you promised you'd protect her?"

Hotaru stopped speaking to look Natsume over again, her face slowly losing its collected mask. She looked utterly bothered by his silence, as if expecting that he'd actually reply to her. As if hoping that he would wake for her, when he had not for the doctors and he had not for his girlfriend. She moved lower, placing her chin on the hands she used to clasp his. A thumb drew circles over his lifeless hand.

"You promised me, too, remember? And if you didn't keep your promise of protecting her, I promised you that I'd kill you," she smiled, at the air between them. "I guess that might actually happen, but you better hope not, Hyuuga, you better hope that doesn't happen to you. It'll be a very, _very_ slow death if anything happens to her; if you hurt her."

Angrily she said, "You were supposed to be like me! You were supposed to be selfish and you were supposed to be uncaring. We survive longer that way. Why couldn't you be selfish for once and think about yourself? Maybe then you'd still be tripping the clumsy baka, maybe then you'd still be there to protect her."

She pushed back his hair thoughtfully, calming herself, before speaking once more. "Where are you now, Hyuuga? Is it happy like when you're with her? Is it dark light the place she pulled you from? Or is it just like every other day? I bet it's better than the real world. I bet that's why you don't want to wake up, because the place you're in right now, it seems better. But trust me, Hyuuga, it's not. No place is happy without Mikan, you'll start to miss her. But if you leave, Mikan won't be happy. And with Mikan unhappy, no place is happy. You understand? So you have to wake up, Hyuuga. For me. Because I need Mikan to be happy.

"There, you see? I'm selfish. But look at me, at least I'm not stuck in bed clinging on to the last threads of life, like you. At least I'm not making all my friends worry about me, like you. That's the wrong way to be selfish. You've got everyone worried because you haven't woken up. And everyone's so hopeful because we see brain wave spikes sometimes but still you won't wake up. Why won't you wake up? Please, everyone's worried about you. Even me."

Hotaru broke off to choke back a sob, trying to keep what was left of her cold composure. Fat tears slowly seeped from her eyes and unto her hands, to his fingers. She didn't seem to notice as she stared up at him. "Why are you so bad at keeping promises, Hyuuga. You promised me that you'd protect my best friend, almost dying isn't exactly keeping that promise. What was the point of it all if you weren't going to keep your promise on the end? Do you know why I even let you make that promise to me? Because you're the only one I trust with my baka. You promised me you'd protect Mikan, and I trusted you because I knew that you loved her. So keep your promise. Keep your promise, Hyuuga, and wake up. Please, we need you. I need you."

By then she was sobbing, tears falling so fast that his sheets were getting wet. She looked down at her hands and wondered how Natsume Hyuuga had ever managed to make her cry. Hotaru Imai, of all people. Hotaru stood so that she could sit at the edge of his bed, tears falling on his chest as she watched a machine breathe for him, as she watched his eyes remain ever shut.

"Please wake up," Hotaru managed to say through her sobs. "Please just open your eyes, Natsume."

And it was as if he heard her speak his name for the first time. The hand she had been holding twitched and the screen showed another brain wave spike. Her heart started beating faster and her crying came to a halt. She stared at him for a few more moments before admitting to herself that it was residual reflexes, that Natsume would not wake for anyone, especially not Hotaru Imai. But she had hoped that he would remember his promise.

Hotaru pushed back his hair, leaning over him to look over his pale face. Her hand rested on his forehead while the other wiped away the last of her tears. With a sad smile she whispered,

"Your eyebrows really are short."

Then she made her way back to the chair, sinking into the cushioning and bringing her knees up to hug them to her chest. A melancholic weariness settled on her shoulders as she leaned back with a broken sigh, closing her eyes. Hotaru listened to the methodical beat of the heart monitor, waiting for a new day to finally come.


End file.
